


First Scoop

by dadrielle (snappilier)



Category: Superman - All Media Types, Xena: Warrior Princess
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-13 22:18:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14757326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snappilier/pseuds/dadrielle
Summary: Daily Planet reporter Gabrielle wasn't expecting to be saved by a flying Grecian goddess but she's not exactly complaining.





	First Scoop

**Author's Note:**

> Xena and Superman are two of my Most Enduring Fandoms so this was inevitable. Ficlet from at least 3 years ago, possibly more.

You would think that the first thing she noticed would be the flying, or cape, or the spandex. But even dangling upside-down by her ankle 50 stories up – even with the flying and the tights, the first thing Gabrielle noticed was the woman’s eyes. 

They’re blue, but an unearthly blue. She’s described eyes as “piercing” before, but she’s never seen eyes anywhere near this sharp. Those eyes - Gabrielle was a _news reporter_ , now, dammit, she had ostensibly left goopy poetical turns of the phrase in the past, but she swore those eyes cut through her til they buried straight into her heart like one of Cupid’s fucking arrows. Which was fitting, really, since the woman looked like she’d been carved out of marble by some Greek master to adorn a temple, however many years ago.

(All the blood really should be rushing to Gabrielle’s head in this position, but apparently there are parts of her that can defy gravity, too.)

The woman swung Gabrielle up into her arms, and Gabrielle caught her breath enough to ask, “Who are you?”

The woman’s face was impassive. Up close she seemed even more like some statue come to life, unyielding. She seemed to consider her answer carefully as she floated Gabrielle down to the street where gawking onlookers awaited, before finally saying, simply, “A friend.”

She set Gabrielle on her feet, instructed her “stay here” and surged upward towards the roof before Gabrielle could get her response out, so Gabrielle’s bemused “Alright…friend” probably went unheard. The gunmen were all unconscious and set neatly next to the cop cars almost before the words finished leaving her lips. The woman squat and neatly wrapped the metal of a nearby stop sign around them to keep them immobile, like it’s nothing.

There was a real crowd gathered by then. The woman spared them a slight frown and said a few curt words to the police explaining what happened, before turning to Gabrielle.

“Are you alright?”

Gabrielle laughed, and waved the question away.

“Oh, sure, fine. Getting tossed off a building isn’t nearly the worst thing that’s happened to me, especially since you showed up. Thanks for saving my life. How’d you do that? Have you always been able to fly? Can you teach me? And can I get an interview?”

Perry would faint dead away if he knew she asked for the interview last. In fact, in other circumstances, she might have slapped herself upside the head in disgust. Instead, she thrust out her hand.

“I’m Gabrielle, by the way. I’m a reporter for the Daily Planet.”

The inscrutable woman smiled as she shook her hand. At least, Gabrielle though she did - it was more like a tightening on one side of her mouth and a softening of the eyes than a full blown smile. But she liked it.

“I know.”

Gabrielle gaped.

“You know? How do you know?” A mortifying thought flitted into her head. “Can you read my mind?”

The woman was definitely smiling now, even if she seems a little unused to doing it.

“No. I’ve followed your work, Gabrielle.”

“So does that mean you’ll do the interview?”

She doesn’t answer right away. Gabrielle saw she was eyeing the crowd out of the corner of her eye, and looked like she wants to escape before anyone tried to climb over the police barrier to come talk to her. They had been shouting things - Gabrielle thinks they’ve mostly been positive, but she’s admittedly not paid much attention to the crowds, not with this dark haired goddess in front of her. The woman seemed uncomfortable with the attention no matter what they had been saying, though. Gabrielle was about to suggest they find someplace else to talk when the woman nodded curtly, decision apparently made.

“Yes. But not now.”

Gabrielle perked up, leaning towards the woman eagerly.

“When? Where?”

“Soon.”

She doesn’t elaborate, and instead hopped back into the air, her cape fluttering around her ankles. Hovering in place, she waved slightly at Gabrielle, the almost-smile back on her face.

“I’ll be around.”

Gabrielle waved back. “Ok. I better be seeing you -” she eyed the S emblazoned on the woman’s chest before adding, “Superwoman.”

The woman winced a bit at that, but chuckled, and then she was up, up, up in the air, impossibly flying away.

More awestruck than she liked, Gabrielle unblinkingly watched the woman go. 

“Wow.” She let out a shaky breath. “I’d follow that S anywhere.”

Already yards away, the woman paused mid-air, turned, and at that distance Gabrielle could only just make out the smirk and the impeccably arched eyebrow.

The moment didn’t last long, but Gabrielle’s blush stuck around until she got back to the Planet, and when he put down his camera, Joxer asked her if she was sick.

And it was not just the fact that this was the story of a lifetime that makes her grin when she said, “never better.”


End file.
